Couple fights HOA to save home from foreclosure after disputed $8K bill balloons to $20K

A Georgia couple is fighting to save their first home after a disputed homeowners association bill ballooned to roughly $20,000 — even though closing documents reportedly showed no outstanding balance when they bought the property.Tatiana Pimentel poured her life savings into a townhouse at the 100-unit Whitehall Forest community in DeKalb County in 2024, hoping to become a homeowner after spending 25 years in the US.But less than a year later, the Whitehall Forest East Condominium Association moved to foreclose on the property over nearly $8,000 in allegedly unpaid dues, according to Atlanta News First.The association now claims Pimentel and her fiancé, Obren Cicmil, owe about $20,000 after adding monthly assessments and legal fees, Pimentel told the outlet.“I have no idea” how the amount became so high, she said.The association’s original October 2025 foreclosure filing sought nearly $8,000 in dues that Pimentel claims were never disclosed before the purchase.Court documents reportedly claim she is more than four years behind — despite her having owned the home for less than two years.Her closing documents showed a zero-dollar HOA balance, while state records indicated that the association had been dissolved in 2021 and was not active when she purchased the property, the outlet reported.Dean Heard, who owns two units in the community, reinstated the HOA in 2024 and assumed its presidency about one month after Pimentel’s purchase, according to nonprofit records cited by the outlet.But residents told the station they do not recall electing Heard or receiving notice of a community vote.

Heard acknowledged that homeowners did not elect him, saying he had been vice president and took over after the board removed the previous president.The couple struggled to find an attorney willing to handle the case until Candace Sneed, working through DeKalb Pro Bono, agreed to represent them without charge.Sneed said she was stunned that a homeowner could potentially ...